Anonymous wages war on TrapWire ‘big brother’ surveillance system

The hacktivist collective known as Anonymous is waging war against the recently exposed counter-terrorism domestic surveillance system known as TrapWire, deployed as a part of the United States’ ever-growing intelligence apparatus.

The release Thursday of an alleged email between Stratfor vice president of intelligence Fred Burton and a company employee revealed alleged ties between the private intelligence firm and TrapWire.

TrapWire, developed and managed by federal intelligence contractor Abraxas Corporation, is a counter-terrorism domestic surveillance system deployed to monitor and identify suspicious activity around facilities deemed part of critical infrastructure.

Surveillance cameras attached to the TrapWire network are used to identify pre-attack behavior exhibited by criminals and terrorists.

The system is being used by law enforcement and parts of the U.S. intelligence community in Washington D.C., Las Vegas, New York City and Los Angeles.

In one email, obtained by WikiLeaks from Anonymous over Christmas 2011, Burton said political activists were more of a threat than terrorists.

“Regarding SF landmarks of interest — they need something like TrapWire more for threats from activists than from terror threats,” he wrote.

“Both are useful, but the activists are ever present around here.”

Asked for comment, a Stratfor spokesperson referred The Daily Caller to the company’s statement following the initial allegations leveled by Anonymous and WikiLeaks. In that statement, the company denounced the theft of its emails as a “deplorable, unfortunate — and illegal — breach of privacy.”

“Some of the emails may be forged or altered to include inaccuracies; some may be authentic,” said the company. “We will not validate either. Nor will we explain the thinking that went into them. Having had our property stolen, we will not be victimized twice by submitting to questioning about them.”

Under the settlement terms of the class action lawsuit later brought by a subscribers, Reuters reported, Stratfor did not admit to “wrongdoing, fault, violation of law or liability of any kind.”

Abraxas Corporation did not respond to TheDC’s request for comment.

Whether or not Stratfor is genuinely connected to TrapWire, the revelation of the program’s capabilities and scope is an unusual glimpse into the U.S. government’s growing domestic surveillance apparatus. Anonymous often campaigns against efforts by governments and corporations to censor and suppress political dissent.

The Anonymous-affiliated website RemainAnonymous.org “put forth a call to arms” in a press release Sunday.

“Operation TrapWire is a direct action of the over-arching Anonymous Operation USA,” said the statement. “TrapWire is but one instance of how the government of the USA has turned against it’s own citizens, designating them as suspects and enemies. Now those citizens rise, and take back their country and their freedom. Welcome to the Second American Revolution.”